Unexpected Consequences
by ArsenicAngel
Summary: Harry Potter has been missing for three days under questionable circumstances. When his Auror partner Draco Malfoy comes to find out why, he discovers something most...unexpected. Creature!fic


**Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

Written for the _Glompfest_ on serpentinelion on LJ. Thanks to lorcalon for the beta.

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><p>"Potter, open the bloody door already!" Draco Malfoy pulled his winter robes tighter around his shoulders, glaring at the offending plank of wood in front of him. His warming charm was doing little to keep the bitter chill at bay, and he'd already been standing on the front step of 12 Grimmauld Place for ten minutes. Rapping his knuckles sharply against the door again, he leaned in closer to listen for signs of movement. When he heard none, he narrowed his eyes as he considered his next move.<p>

Four days ago, Draco had been in a small, coastal town of Scotland with Harry Potter, his field partner and fellow Auror, apprehending Antonin Dolohov. As one of the few Death Eaters who had managed to avoid Azkaban for the past six years, it hadn't been a surprise that it took the two of them three months to track him down, or that he put up as much of a fight as he did. Sometime during the lengthy duel that ensued after they confronted him in an abandoned part of the town, Dolohov managed to land an unfamiliar curse squarely in the center of Harry's chest. But when it hadn't seemed to have any effect – which a diagnostic from the healers upon their return had confirmed – neither wizard had thought anything of it. However, no one had seen or heard from the one-time savior since then.

Today was the third day of work the wizard had missed and several members of the Ministry had grown concerned, Draco included. The two of them had set aside their animosity when they were paired together at the end of Auror training and had developed a tentative friendship over the past four years. Even if the Minister hadn't asked him personally to come and check in on the other man, he likely would have after his shift anyway. Now, as he stood outside the unanswered door, glaring at it as though that would make Harry more likely to respond, Draco found himself at a loss.

While the wards had been set to accommodate him two years ago, after another field incident, that was no guarantee he would be able to get into the house. Weasley and his wife had been blocked from the Floo when they had tried to check on their friend yesterday, which meant that some measure had been taken to disallow entry. But it was unclear what those measures were and whether they had been applied to the actual door. For all anyone knew, Harry could have simply decided he needed a vacation and gone off to the country on a whim, and been overly thorough in his locking up of the house. On the other hand, he could be dead, or dying, on his own kitchen floor while Draco stood around contemplating.

Once that notion was in his head, the blond felt he had no other options, and quickly withdrew his wand from the pocket of his robes. The few variations of the unlocking spell were ineffective, and after a few, frustrating moments, Draco backed away. With a sharp twitch of his wand, he sent the _Reducto_ spell crashing into the door and watched it shatter. There was no loud scream of the wards sounding, although that provided him no comfort as he stepped through the gaping doorway.

The house's entryway was filled with shadows, without the glow of the unlit lamps that lined the wall. From his position on the threshold, however, Draco was able to see the staircase that wound upwards to the next floor. To be safe, he cast a quick _Repairo_ on the shattered door before heading towards it. He had only been inside a handful of times and the line of plaques along the wall never failed to make him shudder in disgust. His family had owned house elves all his life, but never would they think of displaying the deceased of the line in such a fashion.

The landing of the first floor was only marginally better lit than the entryway had been, allowing him to see that all three doors had been left ajar. Nearest the stairwell was the bathroom, which Draco stuck his head in to see if there were any signs that Harry had used it recently. To his concern, there wasn't so much as a toothbrush in the open, nor even a trace of water clinging to the ceramic sink basin. As he stepped away from the room, however, his eye caught sight of several rather large strips of snake skin left untouched on the tile flooring.

Suppressing the shiver that attempted to ripple along his spine, Draco moved quickly towards the next door. If the serpent that had shed its skin in there was a pet of Harry's, the thing was obviously on the loose at the moment and caution would be necessary. There was no way of knowing, after all, whether the thing was dangerous or not.

Like the bathroom, the second room – a bedroom that appeared to be undisturbed – had a few scraps of shedding on the floor and nothing more. Growing more concerned by the lack of signs of life, Draco carefully pushed the final door wide. His shoulders immediately tensed when he saw Harry's body sprawled out on the hardwood floor, face down against the hard surface.

"Potter," he said, rushing to the other man's side. Before he had the opportunity to check for a pulse, however, he was brought up short as he took in the other wizard's appearance.

At the sound of his name, Harry had opened one eye to look at Draco, and he swore that, for a moment, his green eyes had been snake-like in appearance. He tried to tell himself that it was an illusion, brought on by his concern and paranoia about the source of the shed skins in the previous rooms. Judging by the faint trace of small scales along the side of Harry's face, however, it seemed more likely that it had not been a trick of the mind, and that something was _very_ wrong here.

"Draco," Harry murmured softly, his voice sounding somewhat dreamy, "What are you doing here?"

For a moment, Draco was unable to form any kind of coherent response. His mind, grasping for what the proper emotion was for the situation, finally seized on anger. Pulling away from the splayed body, he narrowed his eyes at Harry, forgetting the concern he had felt a moment before. "Are you fucking daft? You disappeared for three days without warning, to what? Have a lounge on your floor?"

Harry pulled himself into a sitting position, although the action was obviously reluctant. He seemed to sway subtly from side to side as he did; an observation which Draco attempted to ignore as his imagination running away with him. The other wizard seemed more coherent, now that he was off the floor, and he narrowed his own eyes back at Draco. "Did you ever bother to consider that I didn't want to be seen?" His voice was sharp enough to give Draco pause before snapping right back at the other man.

"Of course I considered it; right before I considered the chance that you had been abducted or killed!"

"Why were either of _those_ options in consideration? It's-" Harry was cut off as a rather frustrated Draco stepped closer, towering over his sitting form.

"_Why_?" he snapped, a mixture of disbelief and annoyance etched into his face, "You miss three days of work without notice, block your two closest friends from the Floo and your bloody elf shows up at Hogwarts without warning, talking about needing work and refusing to explain the reason! For Merlin's sake, Potter, what else did you expect to happen?"

Rising to his feet, Harry folded his arms over his chest defensively. The trail of black scales that Draco had noticed on the right side of Harry's face had extended to his forearm, as well, concentrating in one spot and thinning again as they spread towards his hand. His eyes widening, he spoke before the other man could bite back a reply. "What's happened to you?"

"I wish I knew," the dark-haired man ground out bitterly, "Why else do you think I've been hiding out in here?" He tensed and pulled back a step when Draco reached for him, narrowing his eyes menacingly. "What do you want from me?"

Draco stared at him for a moment, attempting to think of a response that would not anger the other wizard further. Somehow, stating openly that he wished him to go to the healers for some kind of cure to his new _condition_ did not seem likely to go over well. But as he was unable to think of a more subtle way of suggesting that course of action, it seemed he had no other options.

"Let me take you to St. Mungo's."

"No," Harry quickly snapped.

"Potter, something is obviously wrong with you! You need to see the healers now bef-" His plea was cut off when Harry opened his mouth to let out a string of hissing sounds, which sent a chill along Draco's spine. Uncrossing his arms, he adjusted his posture defiantly, as though daring Draco to argue with him further. All the while, Harry's lips moved with the strange tongue that, after a moment, he was able to identify from the memory of their second year at Hogwarts. In his fit of anger, Harry had begun speaking in Parseltongue.

Not knowing what else he could do, Draco placed his hands on Harry's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. Tensing beneath the touch, Harry paused in whatever it was he had been saying to meet Draco's grey eyes with his own. Although he didn't understand why, the touch had calmed him slightly. Draco took advantage of Harry's distraction to Apparate both of them to St. Mungo's. 

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><p>The white walls of the hospital were a stark contrast after the dimly lit house on Grimmauld Place. Upon their arrival at the Apparition point inside the check-in area, it took Harry a moment to adjust his eyes before realizing what had happened. Draco watched as his expression morphed into one of anger, then confusion, before finally settling into one of discomfort.<p>

"Take me home," Harry hissed, gritting his teeth and clutching at Draco's arm until his short nails dug into the skin. His entire body was slowly beginning to tremble, although whether or not that was actually caused by anger, Draco couldn't tell.

"No. You're going to see someone." Glaring at the blond, Harry reached for his pockets in search of his wand, only to find himself empty-handed. Ignoring the loud curse that erupted from Harry's lips, Draco turned towards the receptionist's desk to sign him in. He hadn't heard the dark-haired man come up behind him until he noticed him lean against the desk from the corner of his eye.

"I need a blanket..."

Harry was pale, the look of discomfort on his features becoming one of pure pain. The Mediwitch behind the desk glanced up at the sound of his voice and her eyes widened. Before Draco could say anything, she was out of her chair and rushing to Harry's side, Conjuring a large thermal wrap with a brisk flick of her wand.

"There now," she murmured in a melodic, calming voice, draping the warm fabric around Harry's shoulders. His demeanor instantly relaxed as he seemed to sink into the blanket, his trembling ceasing as the color returned to his cheeks. Satisfied by the response, the woman raised her eyes to meet Draco's with a glare. "Why would you bring a Nāgahere without something to keep him warm? Are you trying to kill him, or are you simply that dense?"

Draco's brow furrowed at the witch's reproving tone as he glanced from her face to Harry and back again, before realizing what had happened. "I didn't realize the temperature would bother him," he said, earning a deeper glare from her. "He's not actually a...did you say_Nāga_?"

Pulling away from Harry to round the desk again, the Mediwitch nodded briskly. "Yes, that is what I said. And judging by the scaling and the look of his pupils, that is indeed what he is. Now, why are you here, exactly?" The woman sat as she spoke, composing her expression as best she could, although Draco could still see the annoyance in her eyes.

"For him, actually," he said, gesturing at Harry, who had sat himself on the floor during their short exchange, neatly wrapped in the thermal. "This is a rather recent development." If he hadn't been more concerned with the health of his friend, Draco likely would have felt a sense of satisfaction as the Mediwitch gasped softly in surprise.

"You mean," she began, her brow knitting together as the idea sunk in, "Oh Merlin, that's... follow me." Standing again, she frowned to herself as she waited for Draco to coax Harry to his feet, who seemed much more willing to cooperate now that he was warm. There was a private room available just down the hall from the lobby, which she led them to, opening the door and casting a warming charm before Harry entered. "What caused this?" she asked as Harry settled himself on the exam table in the center of the room, laying out on his stomach with the blanket draped over his back.

"A curse of some sort," Draco answered when the dark-haired wizard didn't respond, taking a seat beside the table to watch him. "The Ministry healer said there was nothing wrong, but-"

"I started changing later that night," Harry spoke up, not lifting his face from where it was pressed against the hard surface of the table. His voice sounded much as it had when Draco found him sprawled out on the floor; relaxed and almost dreamy, as though the warmth was keeping him soothed. With a brisk nod, the woman closed the door and left the two of them alone.

For a moment, both of them were silent, until Draco finally voiced the question that had been nagging him since he found Harry, less than an hour before. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

One of Harry's eyes opened to look at him, the slitted pupil slowly morphing back into its proper shape. "The first day, I couldn't. I was changing at random into whatever snake this is," he murmured, raising his right hand in gesture at the scales along that side of his face. "And, once I managed to control that, I was more concerned with finding a way to stay warm before I bothered. It hurts when I get cold."

Leaning forward and bracing his elbows against his knees, Draco prodded further. "You could have gone to _someone_ for help."

"And tell them what?" Harry snapped back, narrowing his eyes slightly, although otherwise he didn't move. "What would you have said if it were you?"

Before he had the opportunity to respond, a healer entered the exam room, closing the door firmly behind him. Draco recognized him from Hogwarts, although he couldn't remember which house he had been in. The man glanced at Draco only briefly, before focusing on Harry, his eyes widening. He stammered nervously as he began to speak, but slowly steadied his voice as he asked for Harry's basic medical history. Allowing his attention to wander while he was not needed, Draco watched the florescent lighting play across the gathering of scales on Harry's arm.

They shimmered slightly, allowing him to see that they were not black, as he had originally thought, but a very dark emerald hue. Under different circumstances, he might have laughed at such a Slytherin color on the Gryffindor golden-boy. When the healer stepped into his line of sight, however, to closer examine Harry's right arm where the scales were most concentrated, he snapped back to attention.

"Have you ever been bitten by a snake before?" he was asking and, while he didn't speak, Draco's brow furrowed as he tried to follow where that question could be going. The shudder that rippled along Harry's spine was obvious as he answered.

"Years ago..."

Nodding, the healer gestured at the area on Harry's forearm that was almost completely hidden beneath the scales. "Here?"

"Yes," Harry hissed, flinching away when the other man made a move to touch that part of his arm. Draco finally stood to stand beside the table, narrowing his grey eyes at the other man.

"Are you planning to explain what's going on, or are you simply searching for an excuse to gawk for a few moments longer?" Draco didn't see the smile that touched the corner of Harry's lips as he spoke, but he did notice when the dark-haired wizard's hand brushed against his hip as he shifted back beneath his blanket. Taken aback by the blond's sharp words, the healer stepped back and attempted to match Draco's expression with one of his own.

"The curse that struck him has set off a latent reaction to the snake bite," he replied sharply, relaxing noticeably when Draco turned a worried eye to Harry.

"But I was healed afterward," Harry muttered, sounding somewhat confused. The healer shook his head slightly.

"Unless someone actually took the time to remove the venom from your bloodstream, it would have remained in your system in a harmless state. The curse seems to have allowed it to merge with you. If there had been more venom, the effect likely would have spread much farther on your body than it has."

Harry's brow furrowed and he twisted his head to look the healer in the eyes. "Are you telling me that this is permanent?"

For a moment, Draco held his breath, already seeing in the other man's expression what his answer would be and not knowing how Harry would take it. The seconds that passed felt like hours before the healer finally nodded, murmuring softly, "Yes, Mr. Potter. This is permanent." Within an instant, Harry had disappeared beneath the large blanket the Mediwitch had given them upon arrival, curling himself into the closest thing to a coil he could manage. Draco frowned as he watched the fabric quiver slightly with each ragged breath his friend took, ignoring the sound of the door closing.

"Harry," he whispered, reaching out to place one hand on what he thought would be the other man's shoulder. At his touch, Harry's trembling stilled and he seemed to relax beneath it. Without waiting for him to ask, Draco tugged one corner of the blanket aside to grab Harry's wrist firmly, Apparating them back to his home. 

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><p>The two men arrived on the front step of 12 Grimmauld Place a moment later. Harry tensed at the icy wind that surrounded them and Draco quickly pulled him inside. Now that he was calmer, Draco noticed how warm it was inside the house and shrugged the heavy cloak from his shoulders.<p>

"Harry?" he asked cautiously, looking at the dark-haired wizard leaning against the wall beside the door. His face was strained and he did not acknowledge the sound of his name. "Harry," Draco repeated, louder.

This time, Harry responded, though it was only by opening his eyes to glare at the blond. Sighing, Draco stepped closer and draped his cloak around Harry's shoulders, though he wasn't sure why. It seemed the right thing to do, he decided, and judging by the relaxing of the other man's shoulders, it must have been. "Why don't we go sit down?" Harry nodded mutely, his scale-covered hand clutching the cloak closed around his shoulders as he led the way up to the sitting room he had been found in.

"You don't have to stay," he finally muttered, sitting heavily at one end of the couch. His eyes were looking at anything but Draco, who frowned as he sat opposite him.

"Is it alright if I want to?"

It was enough to catch Harry's attention. He finally met the other wizard's gaze, albeit suspiciously. "_Why_?"

"Is it not enough for you that I care?" Draco snapped, rising to his feet and clenching his fists at his sides in anger. "I've done nothing in the last few hours but show that your well-being _matters_ to me; why is that not reason enough for me to stay?" Narrowing his eyes, Harry took to his feet as well, straightening his back in an attempt to intimidate the taller man. Anger was radiating off him in waves, but Draco had the distinct impression that it was masking another emotion, though why, he didn't know.

"In case you've forgotten, I didn't _ask_ for you to be here in the first place," Harry snapped, his pupils beginning to slim into the snake-like slits of before.

"Of course not!" Draco shouted, turning away from the other wizard and throwing his hands up in frustration. "You were perfectly content to let everyone who cares about you think you'd been taken or possibly killed, rather than ask any of us for help!"

He had begun rounding the couch as he seethed, intending to cross to the mantel above the fireplace, but froze when Harry hissed angrily from behind him. Twisting to look over his shoulder, Draco could see the glazed look in Harry's eyes as he snarled words in the snake-tongue. A chill ripped along his spine at the sound, threatening though it was. Suppressing another, he quickly stepped back towards Harry, placing his hands on the other man's shoulders.

"Harry," he said cautiously, watching his eyes widen in response to his touch. The sound of his hissing became less harsh, but he still did not respond with words. "English, Harry," he said, sternly, and the green eyes blinked slowly. The change wasn't instant, but he could see the glazed expression become clearer. Relaxing, Draco went to remove his hands from Harry's shoulders, but stopped when Harry's voice in his head nearly shouted for him not to, a moment before his hand wrapped around Draco's wrist to keep him still.

Furrowing his brow, Draco met his gaze hesitantly. "Did you just...?" He couldn't find words to finish the question, but Harry seemed to understand and nodded mutely, refusing to meet his eyes. "A spell?" Draco demanded, feeling Harry flinch as much as seeing it. Before he even spoke, the answer flitted through his mind from the other man's consciousness.

"No..." It wasn't as clear as he'd been told Legilimency was, but Draco recognized the hazy connection between them and frowned. "Harry," he started, only to trail off as Harry pulled away.

"The healers again, I know." Harry's tone was wary, and Draco could feel his unease. Sighing, he stepped back up behind him and placed a reassuring hand on his arm again.

"I'll take you in the morning," he offered quietly. Harry nodded. In the back of his mind, it registered that Harry had been responding positively to his touch since he found him; he briefly wondered if it was connected. He was distracted enough by the train of thought, he almost didn't hear the other wizard's soft voice as he replied.

"Unless it doesn't bother you..." Harry glanced up at Draco from over his shoulder, the look in his eyes uncertain as he waited for some kind of response. Draco met his gaze steadily, searching his face for a moment.

"You want to see what it means?" he finally asked. Harry looked away again, towards the window in front of them.

"I'd like to see where it goes," he corrected. Draco relaxed. Harry's meaning hadn't been lost on him, but it was more comforting to hear it aloud.

"I would, too."


End file.
